


Hollow Eyes

by Katrina



Series: Trope Bingo [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Gen, I know this is not how things work, So much canon au, canon AU, enjoy the bitty grr anyway, not beta we die like mne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24564016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrina/pseuds/Katrina
Summary: Masaki intended to save her son. She succeeds, and he saves her in return.
Relationships: Kurosaki Isshin/Kurosaki Masaki
Series: Trope Bingo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775029
Kudos: 68
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	Hollow Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> For Character in Distress. I know this is not how hollows work. I did it anyway. Woo!

Her boy was going to die. 

Masaki flung herself forward. Everything felt foggy and distant, and her fingers burned where her arrow had gone up with a violent flash of power. She didn’t know what had caused that. Masaki barely cared, other than it left Ichigo unprotected. 

She flung herself forward just as the hollow fully materialized and struck out. The claws caught her back, and she grunted as she landed on Ichigo. He cried out as she landed on him, but it meant he was alive. That was what was important. 

“Stay still,” she said, covering him as much as she could. Above her, she could hear the hollow laughing. It was fuzzy, but she was trying her best to protect Ichigo. 

Ichigo shifted, just enough. In another life, she would have kept him covered, and he would have never seen the monster that killed her. He would have been knocked out by that last violent flare of her power defending him and forgotten the most traumatic parts of this. And, years later, he would see her face again when the same hollow tried to murder him and his sisters. 

Above her, the hollow made a comment about delicious treats, and she felt Ichigo freeze under her, his eyes wide as he started up at the monster. Masaki tensed, ready to get up and fight, even with her bare hands. 

Then power flared up under her. Fingers that were clutching at her became sharp, and Masaki hisses. She looked down, and Ichigo wasn't looking at her, and it wasn't her baby’s sweet little face staring up. There is a white and red mask there, too much like the thing above them. Gold on black eyes stare up at the hollow, who makes a noise of surprise. 

Then Ichigo’s mouth opened, and Masaki moved just enough to not get scorched by something that looked very much like a cero. There was a screech of pain, and the hollow above her vanished. 

For a long moment, nothing moves. Masaki looked at Ichigo, who looked back at her with those burning eyes. His little fingers are tipped with claws that cling to her. Something in his eyes was wild and confused.

Then that mask opened, and she saw two sets of teeth. “Mama?” 

His voice is wrong, echoing, but it is still her Ichigo. Her little boy, who sounds even younger than normal. 

There is a crack, and the mask fractured, flakes of it falling off of him. The claws vanished, and the black bled out of his eyes. The gold lasts a moment longer, but Masaki sees them turn back even as he closes them and passes out. 

She doesn’t remember much about the struggle up the hill. Ichigo is limp in her arms, and pain flares down her spine. Each move makes her dizzy, and she is only part way down the hill when Urahara landed next to her. 

“Kurosaki-san?” he asked, hands already glowing with power as he pressed them against her back. The pain instantly numbs, though Masaki knows it will be ages before she’s fully healed. It’s only Isshin that keeps her alive now, their souls still bonded. But it wouldn’t be the first time he’s saved her soul. 

“Ichigo,” she gets out, still clutching him tightly. She knows when Urahara notices the chunk of mask still clinging to orange hair. He moved one hand from her to her son, brow furrowing. Masaki felt herself drifting a moment, just from blood loss. 

“He’s exhausted, but there appears to be no damage,” the shopkeeper said after a moment. 

Then he yelped, the last sound Masaki heard as she dropped. Once she heard her son was all right, Maskai let herself black out.

///

Whatever he had been expecting, this was not it.

Urahara had sent a message to lsshin, letting him know that Masaki and Ichigo had been attacked on their way home. He also noted that they were at Urahara’s place instead of somewhere they could be treated. 

Isshin quickly found someone to watch the girls, letting them know there had been an accident, and raced to the other man’s place. Inside, he saw Urahara waiting patiently, twirling something white in his fingers. 

“They should both be fine,’ were the first words out of Urahara’s mouth. “But there have been some...complications.” 

That word coming from Urahara was always a bad thing. The hollowfication of a half dozen captains and lieutenants was a ‘complication’ according to Urahara. 

“It appears Masaki-san has lost her Quincy powers.” Urahara frowned a bit. “I contacted Ishida-san, and he informed me that his wife had collapsed this afternoon. Then hung up on me.” He tapped his fan against his chin. “As such, I believe there may have been some attack that focused on at least some branches of the Quincies.” 

“Can I see her?” It worried him, knowing she had been hurt and not being able to see her. “And how is Ichigo?”

Urahara was quiet. 

That was even more worrying than his use of the word consequences. 

“Masaki-san informed me that Ichigo-kun had been lured away by a hollow. She discovered her loss of powers when she went to protect him.” Grey eyes focused on Isshin for a moment. “When she was injured doing so, Ichigo… manifested a hollow mask and drove the other hollow off.”

He twisted his fingers, and held up what he had been playing with. It was a piece of mask, white with red streaks leading towards what was the eye hole. 

It looked so small, what he held. 

“Ichigo?”

“Asleep next to his mother. It appeared to...agitate him if we moved him too far away.” Urahara rubbed his chin, and Isshin realized he looked exhausted. 

“This is,” Isshin paused, swallowing hard. 

“It changes a lot of plans,” Urahara said. “And we can only hope that Aizen wasn’t looking at the time.”

His son, his oldest child, had manifested a hollow. He wasn’t even ten yet.

“We’ll figure out something,” Isshin said. “But, right now, I want to see my wife.”

There was a nod from Urahara, and he stood to walk Isshin in. Though he never stopped playing with the fragment. 

Isshin hoped this wouldn’t change too much. Masaki would murder him, rightfully, if she knew what he planned. But desperation made men do things they shouldn’t.

Right now, though, he just wanted to see his lovely wife and their son. Panic and worry were bitter in his mouth still. 

Plotting was for later. Right now, he wanted to focus on his family.


End file.
